INTRODUCTION

Setting Apart the Early Morning to Enjoy Christ as the Real Manna

The moment we believe in the Lord, we should set apart the early morning for fellowshipping with God and for contacting Him.

Song of Songs 7:12 shows us that the early morning is the best time to fellowship with the Lord. To fellowship means to open up our spirit and our mind to God and allow Him to enlighten us, speak to us, impress us, and touch us (Psa. 119:105, 147). During this time our hearts are drawn near to God, and we allow God to draw near to our hearts.

The early morning is the time for us to gather the manna.1 Manna is a type of Christ (John 6:31-35, 48-51, 57-58). As the real manna, Christ was sent by God the Father (v. 32) for God’s chosen people to live by Christ (v. 57).2 Just as manna sustained nearly two million people in the wilderness for forty years, so Christ as the real manna sustains the church today.…On the one hand, the Lord Jesus is “the bread out of heaven”; on the other hand, He is “the bread of God,” the One who came down out of heaven to be our food (John 6:32-33).3

What does it mean to eat the manna? It means to enjoy Christ, to enjoy God’s Word, and to enjoy His truth early in the morning every day. After we eat the manna, we have the strength to journey in the wilderness. The early morning is the time to gather the manna. One will not be fed spiritually or be satisfied if he spends his early morning on other things.4

The Falling Dew Signifying Christ as Grace Reaching Man

Numbers 11:9 also tells us that manna came with the dew: “And when the dew fell on the camp at night, the manna would fall with it.”…According to spiritual experience…the dew signifies daily grace, the grace we receive each day. In Psalm 133:3 we read of “the dew of Hermon that came down upon the mountains of Zion.” The dew of Hermon signifies grace which descends from the heavens. Hermon, a high mountain, signifies the heavens, the highest place, from which the dew descends. The dew signifies the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Dew is different from rain, snow, or frost. It is softer than rain and not as cold as frost. According to Lamentations 3:22 and 23, God’s compassions, like the dew, are new every morning.…Every morning the Lord’s grace is as fresh as the dew.

[What is grace?] Grace is God reaching us. When God reaches us in a positive manner, full of mercy and compassion, He becomes grace to us. Manna always comes by means of this grace.…Whenever we experience the dew in the morning watch, we know that God reaches us and visits us. This visitation of God is the Lord as our grace.… When we have dew as we read the Word in the morning, the Word truly is food to us. If we do not have the refreshing dew, we cannot have the manna that comes with the dew.

This picture of the manna and the dew is very precious. Truly a picture is better than a thousand words! The dew in the morning is refreshing. Without this dew, this grace, we are very dry. But with the dew we are watered and refreshed. Thank the Lord that manna comes not by itself, but with the dew.

Every Morning Having a New Beginning

[Furthermore], the manna was sent in the morning. Exodus 16:21 says that the children of Israel “gathered it morning by morning.” The fact that manna came in the morning indicates that it gives us a new beginning. Because the earth revolves on its axis daily, every day we have a new beginning, a new turn.…Thank the Lord that He sends the manna daily. Every morning we can have a new beginning.5

Revived Every Morning by Experiencing Christ as the Rising Sun

Since we all love the Lord, and we know that the Lord desires to build up His Body by our growth in life, we must have a daily revival. Every morning after we rise up, we have to have a new start with the Lord.6 In the morning when I wake up, I do not speak to man first. Rather, I speak to God. I would not open my mouth to any man before I open my mouth to God. I would say, “O Lord, I love You! Lord Jesus, I am coming to You!” Every morning, all I do are these two things: calling on the name of the Lord and pray-reading His word.…If you would exercise yourself in these two things every morning, surely you will be revived.7

I like Paul’s expression in 2 Corinthians 4:16—“day by day.” The Christian life does not only have one day. We are being renewed day by day. This means that day after day we have to be revived by the Lord. Yesterday morning we may have had a revival, but this morning we need another one, and tomorrow we need another one. Every year we need three hundred sixty-five revivals to be renewed day by day.8

Every morning we should experience Christ as the rising sun [Luke 1:78] to be revived by Him.9 The Christian revival does not occur in the afternoon or at sunset. Rather, it occurs in the morning. The Christian life is not a sunset. Rather, it is a dawning of the sun. In fact, we ourselves are the sun. Judges 5:31 says, “May those who love Him be like the sun / When it rises in its might.” Proverbs 4:18 says, “But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, / Which shines brighter and brighter until the full day.” A Christian’s life should be one that follows the moving of the sun. When the sun rises, we should rise with it. We keep rising until the perfect [full] day, which is noon. The Christian life does not have afternoons.10 Sometimes, however, we experience a going down from noon. But when we go to bed, the dawning of the sun is awaiting us. We can have a new start with the Lord. Every twenty-four hours there is a new start.11 We Christians who are seeking after the Lord should live a life in which we have a new revival, a new sunrise, every day. Every day Christ has to be our rising sun.12

Note: We hope that many will benefit from these spiritual riches. However, for the sake of avoiding confusion, we ask that none of these materials be downloaded or copied and republished elsewhere, electronically or otherwise. Living Stream Ministry retains full copyright on all these materials and hopes that our visitors will respect this.

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About Living Stream Ministry

Living Stream Ministry publishes the works of Watchman Nee and Witness Lee, providing the authoritative and definitive collections of treasures from these two servants of the Lord Jesus Christ. The writings of Watchman Nee and Witness Lee focus on the enjoyment of the divine life, which all the believers possess, and on the building up of the church, the goal of God's work with man in this age.

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